Cold hands, Warm hearts
by junkipii
Summary: Originally posted on Tumblr as a Secret Santa present. A short story about how Cullen met Amell for the first time.


The light from the candle flickered in the darkness of Cullens bedroom. His nightmares kept him awake annoyance, he ran his fingers through his hair and with a grunt he stood up, walking towards his window, looking at the rain hitting the window. The throbbing pain in his head was getting stronger and stronger, which made him close his eyes and press his forehead against the cool glass of his window, which seemed to help the pain a bit. This feeling was oddly familiar to him and a slight smile reached his lips, as one of most precious memories returned to his mind.

* * *

><p>"Cullen, what are you doing?! There's a shield on your hand, block with it! If this man was your enemy, you'd be dead!" Knight-Commander Greagoir yelled at Cullen, while he was training with Drass. Cullen had woken up that morning with a major throb in his forehead and now he had problems concentrating.<p>

"I.. I'm sorry, Knight-Commander." Cullen stuttered.

"Let me try again." Greagoir sighed and shook his head.

"Cullen, is your head hurting again?"

"No.." Cullen lied and touched his neck ever so slightly.

"Don't lie to me, Cullen. I can see through your lies." Greagoir growled, but his voice was full of care. His gaze at his feet, Cullen finally nodded. He could hear steps and then Greagoirs hand on his shoulder.

"Son, go rest that headache away. You can't fight if you are already hurt." Greagoir murmured and then returned to yell commands at other templars. Defeated, Cullen sheathed his sword and put his shield back to his back.

"Cullen, all you allright, do you need me to take you to your room?" Drass asked.

"I'm fine, I can walk." His head still slumped down, Cullen walked out of the training hall.

Everything started to go hazy the instant Cullen had left the room. His feet getting weaker, he tried to walk towards his room, but the throbbing in head started to be so unbearable, he slumped against the wall and sat there for a while, waiting for the headache to get a bit better. He could hear soft steps in the distance, until they got closer and closer. It just made the throbbing worse. He was so close to yell at the person who had just walked, but he couldn't hear the steps anymore. His eyes opened slightly to see that the person was standing next to him. The person was wearing apprentices robes. They were in the wrong place.

"Mage, you shouldn't be here, it's forbidden." Cullen murmured, closing his eyes again.

"I'm sorry, Ser. I must have gotten lost. I was looking for First Enchanter Irving." her voice was calm, soothing even which made Cullen concentrate on the tone of her voice. She crouched in front of him, and he lifted his head, just to see the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. A long red hair on a thick braid, that fell over her shoulder, tied with a green ribbon, some of the longest eyelashes he had ever seen framing her deep forest green eyes. Little nose and full lips, with a scar running from her chin, across her lips and ending just below her nose. She was lookind worriedly at him, cocking her head to the right.

"Ser, are you alright? You look like you are in so much pain." He could feel the throbbing returning again and he closed his eyes. First he was kicked from the training, and now mage was asking how he was. He wouldn't say he felt lucky, so he refrained answering. The sweat was forming between his brow. He knew he had to rest or he would pass out, but the last thing he needed is a help from a mage. First it was hot, and then suddenly his head felt very cool, even cold. It felt like the pain was draining away from his head to his toes. It was such a surprise, his eyes flicked open and he turned to look at the redhaired mage, holding her tiny hand on the side of his head. The girl got surprised by the glare that Cullen gave her, she removed her hand and bit her lip.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ser. Should I not be doing this?" The throbbing returned and he closed his eyes again.

"My mother used to cool her hands whenever I got a headache and hold them on my forehead, so the pain would go away." The girl continued shyly.

"So when I saw you were in such pain, I wanted to help you. I don't want you to be in such pain, you don't deserve it." Cullen opened his eyes again to look at the girl, who looked sad. Besides his family, no one had cared how he was feeling. And now this young red haired girl, a mage he had never seen was worried about him. Something stirred in his heart and he lifted his hand just enough to hold hers.

"Please, can you do that again..?" Cullen murmured and the girl smiled at him, pressing her cool hand once again on the side of his forehead. He closed his eyes, relaxing and concentrating on her touch. The throbbing started slowly fading away again, his eyelids starting to feel heavy. He knew he would fall asleep here on the hallway any moment now.

"Girl, what is your name?" he murmured sleepily. The blood rushing in his ears was disturbing his hearing, so all he heard was: "Amell". Next time Cullen came to, he was laying in his bed at his quarters, with Drass studying in his bed.

Days had passed since that incident with the mysterious mage girl Amell. Drass had found Amell, with Cullen passed out on her lap. He had picked Cullen up and commanded Amell to return to her quarters, which she did. After that, both Cullen or Drass hadn't talked about it, but the girl still kept Cullen awake at nights. The friery red hair, her beautiful voice, the softness and coolness of her skin against his forehead. When he was making his rounds, he had secretly wished to see her, but never managed to see her.

* * *

><p>Days turned into months, until Cullen finally saw Amell again. He was stationed to guard certain classes in which Amell participated. When he finally saw her, when she entered the class, staff behind her back, holding her book and chatting with her friends, Cullen thought his knees would give up. Her red hair was on a loose bun, couple strands of hair losely on her neck. He could feel his cheeks turning red and he had to look down at the floor, so no one would see the redness. When finally he could feel the blood cooling under his cheeks, he lifted his head and listened the lecture that was going on, stealing a glimps of Amell once in a while. He could see her and her friend whispering to each other, sometimes looking towards him, and he had to quickly glance somewhere else. It was hard not to get sucked into those deep green eyes, but Cullen managed through the whole class. As he was leaving, Amells voice stopped him in his tracks.<p>

"Ser Cullen."

"Y..Y..Yes?" he stuttered.

"How are your feeling? I hope your head doesn't hurt anymore." She cocked her head, smiling sweetly at him while her fingers gracefully put a stray strand of hair behind her ear. That little move made his heart beat on overdrive.

"Yes, thank you miss Amell for your help." he swallowed. She chuckled softly.

"It was my pleasure, since you seem such a hard worker." That surprised him, she had noticed him too. The blood rushed in his cheeks again, turning him red again. He was about to say something, when Amells friend rushed in.  
>"We should go." Amell nodded at her friend and turned to look at Cullen once more.<p>

"Whenever you feel pain in your head, press something cold against your forehead and think of something nice." She smiled sweetly.

"See you around, Ser Cullen." and then she was gone with her friend, leaving Cullen alone, with a fast beating heart, and feelings he had never felt before.

* * *

><p>The harsh knock wake Cullen up from his slumber.<p>

"What?" He yelled loudly, holding his hand on his eyes.

"Knight-Captain Cullen, Knight-Commander Meredith wished to see you in her office urgently." a voice behind the door answered. Cullen sighed and stood from his bed.

"Tell her I'll be there in 10 minutes." he murmured looking at his hand, before fisting it. He went to pick up his armor, when a green ribbon fell on the floor. He crouched to pick it up, and after a while looking at it, he pressed it on his forehead, with trembling fingers, before putting it back where it was and leaving his room.


End file.
